Hi there.Im T2 Diabetic on metformin 1500mg and looking to reverse the condition/get off medication.After 2 weeks my blood sugar readings are very good,best theyve ever been !However after intense excercise (surfing) i had increasing blood pressure from my normal good readings. My blood ketones last few days are between 2.2 -2.6. I woke at 3am with heart rate around 100bpm and thought might be a salt issue so had water and salt and went back to bed. Following morning checked blood pressure and it was 150/110 !!! with pulse at 102. I was ready to go to ER but tried electrolyte drink and had breakfast with more water and it stabilised back to 120/76. It has been ok most of day,had more electrolyte and salt water through day but then late afternoon i get a reading of 140/79 with HR100 bpm. This has really scared me as im not sure why its happening blood sugars are perfect in range.Online seems to suggest there will be an elevated heart rate at first and this is normal but cant find anything about blood pressure,any advice would be greatly appreciated Cheers Jamie
Keto causing fluctuations in blood pressure from normal/optimal to high-very high and raised pulse after 2 weeks.Possible causes?
@Jamie6662 Welcome to the forum! I appreciate how scary anything âheart-relatedâ can be, and clearly elevated blood pressure and rapid pulse can be alarming.
The diastolic figures (denominator) are what matter more than the numerator, which is really more of a fleeting figure that rises and falls based on momentary activity, stress, etc. And so, your diastolic readings of 76 and 79 are actually quite good (<80 is normal).
Can you share more about your health background⌠Do you have a history of atrial fib? Have you had blood pressure issues/medication in the past? Any experience with âpanicâ attacks or accelerated pulse for other reasons?
I very much doubt âketoâ per se is causing your issues. Ketones are very healthy for the heart and it tends to function more optimally with ketones rather than glucose - just like the brain does as well. That said, many folks experience discomfort in various ways during the initial transition from a high carb - ie glucose loaded diet - to very low carb as muscles and cells relearn to utilize fatty acids and ketones as fuel. Thatâs not âcausedâ by keto, but carb withdrawal. Generally, the fix is to increase sodium and potassium in the diet. A high carb diet causes water retention since both glucose and glycogen store up to 3x their weight of water. Keto allows water to flush through the body unimpeded removing lots of waste and other crud in the process - which is good. However, lots of electrolytes go with it. Thus, increasing electrolyte input resolves a much/most of the initial discomfort some folks experience.
Other possibilities include youâre now eating something you werenât eating before - or simply eating more of it - and itâs not agreeing with you; youâre eating less of something that previously provided some nutrient and now youâre deficient. So it would be helpful to tell us what and how much of it youâre eating. I suggest you cut back on the âintense exerciseâ for a few weeks. Many folks find that exercise causes them problems for a few weeks or a couple of months after transitioning to keto. As I mentioned above, it takes time for your muscles and cells to adapt to utilize ketones and fatty acids for fuel, so they will not function efficiently until they relearn how to do so. This can cause all sorts of symptoms.
Also, as Joey mentions please inform us of any other health issues you may have. Sometimes things get âmaskedâ by a high carb diet. When the mask gets pulled away, the issue may raise its ugly head.
Rest assured, however, youâre on the right track. Many folks on this forum have reversed their T2, eliminated medication and improved their overall health enormously with keto. Best wishes.
The first question to ask, since you say youâve been eating a ketogenic diet for only a couple of weeks, is what your heart rate and blood pressure generally were when you were eating a lot of carbohydrate. For instance, my heart rate was generally around 100 bpm and my blood pressure typically something like 138/90 before I went keto. For some reason, my doctors never seemed to find this particularly alarming. It took some time on a ketogenic diet, but my heart rate eventually dropped to around 72, and my blood pressure to 112/70.
If you are experiencing transient spikes of heart rate and blood pressure, I donât see how a ketogenic diet per se could be causing them. It is possible, as Michael suggests, that your electrolytes are out of balance, but the only way to know for sure would be to see your doctor and get tested.
How much extra salt are you taking in? You need to get about 2 teaspoons of salt a day when following a low carb diet.
If I donât supplement enough salt, my heart pounds and I get palpitations.
Thanks for the replies.A bit of background for meâŚIn Australia diagnosed as a type 1 5years ago and put on insulin and metformin.They assumed type1 in hospital as i didnt fit type 2 profile as i wasnt obese and 36yrs old.After trips to endo it came back as i was actually type 2 after GAD and c peptide tests. After following the not low carb at all outdated guidelines and supplementing insulin for 4.5 years i hurt my back surfing and ended up doing no excercise ,eating bad and put 9kg on through covid.My insulin resistence went up and doctor was suggesting medication change.My A1c has always been pretty good due to fact i had insulin to help last was 5.3. I have recently looked into all the fat loss and reversal methods and decided to try keto.I have had raised HR after intense excercise for years but my blood pressure has always been good and in healthy range.I had holter monitor ,ekg,and treadmill plus ultrasound test on heart (i think was few years ago) and cardio specialist said couldnt see anything concerning but to get cardio fitter. Weight was 80kg trying to get down to around 70.currently at 75 lost 5kg in first 2 weeks. I do suffer with some anxiety but the bp rise came after the 2 times iv surfed and I have a feeling that electrolyte defiency could be causing the high BP .At the start i didnt take any extra salt and have a feeling everything may have been ok for the first week until my body cleared out all its own reserves.I felt fairly good in the surf maybe a bit less energy in the tank so i will maybe lay off a bit .However im hoping i dont have to stop for long as i have been surfing 3 x week for 1.5-2hrs a time and dont want to loose that fitness i have got back to. Diet .iam struggling to eat as much fat protein and calories as the carb apps suggest as i dont feel as hungry . Breakfast.plain greek yogurt,few berries,flax seed Lunch . Sardines,avocado,spinach ,mushrooms,eggs ,cheese ,peppers,nuts,olives (maybe not all at same time ) Dinner .Salmon/chicken breast/minced beef.brocolii,cauliflower,peppers,mushrooms ,spinach ,cheese avocado I have found a low carb clinic fairly local who specialises in type2 low carb diet.They have doctors and dieticians on site so i might check them out and see if they can do any extra tests to check for deficiencies.My normal Dr is great but not an expert in t2d and keto diets and follows the set guidlines so unlikely to recommend this diet .Well this has turned into a bit of a novel
@Jamie6662 Thanks for sharing the additional background. It seems to me youâre on a great path toward addressing all of the things on your concern listâŚ
Definitely keep your electrolytes up ⌠itâs far easier to piss out any reasonable excess at this stage than to suffer the consequences of insufficient salts.
Especially for now, Iâd suggest going really low on carbs - even the âhealthyâ carbs like nuts (which are extremely hard to portion-control), fruits, and such. Let your bodyâs mitochondria adapt to burning fat as fully and quickly as possible. You can add modest amounts of these back later.
From your menu, seems like you might be a bit âfat-phobicâ? If so, itâs understandable - most of us have been trained this way and if youâre trying to lose weight, then consuming dietary fat seems counter-intuitive.
But when you cut out the carbs, and eat an appropriate amount of protein, you MUST eat more (healthy) fats - or you will not have enough calories to operate - and your body will begin to go into a starvation self-preservation mode and your metabolism will begin to wind down.
Others can elaborate where Iâve cut corners here, but in short my suggestions:
1 - Maintain sufficient electroytes/hydration
2 - Be extra vigilant about limiting fruits/nuts for now
3 - Make sure to get sufficient animal fats into your diet
Best wishes - please keep us posted! 